Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole was a best-selling English novelist of the 1920s and 30s who chose a career in writing over following in his father’s footsteps as a clergyman. He was a prolific writer from the publication of his first novel in 1909, The Wooden Horse, until his death in 1941, producing thirty-six novels and five volumes of short stories across a wide range of genres, and supporting many younger writers in their careers. Hugh Walpole was a gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal, but he eventually settled down with his ‘perfect friend’ in the Lake District.